


will ya catch me when I fall?

by dyoxyys



Series: Toph and Katara are Ecoactivists and Bato and Hakoda are Tired [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bato (Avatar) POV, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Middle Aged Men In Love, POV Third Person, Parental Hakoda (Avatar), Slice of Life, Toph is Bato's Daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:15:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25671940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dyoxyys/pseuds/dyoxyys
Summary: A bunch of scenes in which Bato loves his family.Bakoda Fleet Week Day Seven: Domestic
Relationships: Bato/Hakoda (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Toph and Katara are Ecoactivists and Bato and Hakoda are Tired [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861474
Comments: 21
Kudos: 218
Collections: Bakoda Fleet Week 2020





	will ya catch me when I fall?

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel of sorts to one of my previous fics, 'would ya bail me out if I need it?'! You don't necessarily have to read that one before you read this, but the context would probably be nice.  
> The title is from the same song as the previous fic, "Bail Me Out" by All Time Low.

It was weird, standing in Hakoda’s kitchen, using Hakoda’s mixing bowl, making a quiche with Hakoda. He hadn’t been in a relationship in so fucking long, every normal thing felt weird. When Hakoda had asked him to help make a quiche, he had initially been confused. Is that what people do when they’re in love? Make things for fun? Spend time creating food to be enjoyed by both parties?

It had been so long since he knew the answer to that question. 

See, the last time Bato felt anything close to love, he was a teenager. He had full use of his left side and he didn’t have an ecoterrorist daughter. Last time he felt so at ease with another man, that man had cheated on him the second he was shipped off. 

So this easy kind of love felt weird. 

Bato never had to second guess his actions with Hakoda, he never had to bite his tongue to keep from saying the wrong thing and fucking everything up, he never had to think a hand on his hip was a bad sign. It was nice. 

Plus, he could  _ cook.  _

Well. He claimed he could cook. In reality, Hakoda had presented him with a premade crust and a Betty Crocker recipe and claimed it would taste “just like his mom’s recipe,” which honestly said less about Hakoda and more about his mom. 

At least he didn’t buy pre-crushed bacon bits. At least he was trusting Bato to chop the onion and shred the cheese. At least his pepper was freshly ground.

Bato knew how to accept small blessings. 

Currently, though, Hakoda was actively working against all his efforts to make the quiche actually edible.

"I think we need more cheese." 

"Babe, there’s already two cups, we can’t add more-"

"It needs more cheese."

It did not, in fact, need more cheese. Bato was about to say that, he really was, but then Hakoda’s soft hands were on his waist, spinning him so his back was pressed against the counter. It still took his breath away when Hakoda had to go up on his tiptoes and pull Bato down by his neck just to kiss him. 

Really, who could blame Bato for forgetting about the task at hand? Who could blame him for setting the shredder down and instead cupping Hakoda’s strong jaw in his hands? Who could blame him for devoting his entire being to the feeling of Hakoda’s lips on his?

Truly, it’s not his fault he was too caught up in the euphoria of being loved to notice Hakoda picking up the shredder and cheese block. When the quiche inevitably ended up ruined because Bato was too lovesick to stop his boyfriend from adding an extra helping of cheese shreds to the filling. 

Even so, when the quiche came out of the oven lightly charred with the cheese overpowering the egg, he took a look at the beautiful smile on Hakoda’s face and couldn’t bring himself to care.

\-- 

Hakoda’s family had no trouble integrating Bato and Toph into their activities. The weekly dinners Hakoda insisted they attend quickly turned into Katara and Toph attending protests together, Sokka texting Bato for homework help, and Hakoda inviting them over for any small thing.

Currently, they were sitting on the couch because Sokka had gotten a new “Smash DLC,” whatever that meant. The entire ride over, Toph kept ranting about how she bets “Sokka is a stupid Hbox fan when obviously Mang0 and Zain are the only players worth following” and she thinks “Sokka absolutely mains something stupid like Lucario” and how “only assholes main Lucario.” 

None of this clarified a single thing.

Inexplicably, Bato found himself sitting next to three teenagers with very loud opinions on a game he frankly couldn’t keep up with. When a controller was shoved into his hand and he was told to pick a character, he had no clue what to pick. He ended up picking the funny looking purple guy, which made Sokka groan dramatically. The second Toph figured out what he picked, she groaned just as dramatically. This did little to dissuade him from picking the funny purple guy. 

Hakoda, when he was granted a controller, insisted on picking the pink swallow orb. This enraged Sokka to no end (“Really, Dad,  _ Kirby _ ? Are you kidding me? You’re a disgrace to the family name.  _ Kirby.  _ I’m ashamed of you.”), which Hakoda later told Bato was the whole point. 

Toph, to her credit, just picked the randomizer and spammed random buttons every round. She seemed to be having fun, so no one bothered to question her madness. 

Bato got a complex understanding of Katara’s character. Every time the controller was passed to her, she would pick a character she called “Palutena,” who she explained excitedly was from a game called ‘Kid Icarus.’ This confused Bato. Weren’t they all from Smash? Apparently not.  _ Apparently _ , Palutena was some powerful Goddess of Light. She seemed a little bit overpowered for a fun fighting game, in Bato’s opinion, though Sokka vehemently disagreed. 

Sokka was the only one who seemed to actually care about winning. As far as Bato could tell, his character was some weird discount Iron Man reject. He was good with the character. Probably. He kept winning, at least. 

Frankly, Bato had no clue what was happening, but it was nice. He loved the two-person family he and Toph had carved out for themselves, but it was nice to have a larger group to belong to. It was nice to hear Sokka lightly trash talk his poor attempts at fighting, or whatever it was he was meant to be doing. It was nice to have Hakoda leaning against his side, pretending to pay attention to the nonsense on the screen. It was nice to hear Katara and Toph bickering about if the cute little yellow dog would be an eco-activist. Toph, it seemed, was arguing the side that the dog would commit war crimes if given the opportunity.

He had only had this for a small amount of time, hardly even eight months, but being with Hakoda and his family felt like home.

\--

It had just meant to be a normal day. 

Bato was picking up a book from Hakoda’s while Hakoda himself was working a late shift. This was a simple enough task. After Bato got off of work, he headed over to the house and let himself in with the key. 

He certainly didn’t expect to walk into Sokka sprawled out and shirtless on the ground and the boy he always hung out with- what was his name? Zeke? Zach?- visibly breathless on the couch beside him. 

Faster than Bato could process, Sokka was on his feet pulling on a shirt that had been abandoned over the back of the couch.

“Hey, uh, Bato, what are you doing here? Dad’s working tonight, right?” He seemed stressed and scared. It made Bato uncomfortably sad to see him like that. 

“I need to pick up a book, he told me to let myself in, sorry.” He took a steeling breath before continuing. “Can we speak in the kitchen for a moment, bud?”

From the way Sokka paled, it was clear to Bato that this wouldn’t be a comfortable conversation. The boy (Zuko, it’s definitely Zuko, right?) looked like he was about to cry, so Bato was sure to make the kitchen conversation as short as possible.

Before he could even begin to speak, words were tumbling out of Sokka’s mouth. 

“I really didn’t know anyone would be coming over and Dad doesn’t know and you can’t tell Dad yet  _ please _ don’t tell Dad yes me and Zuko are together you probably guessed that but you cannot tell Dad it’s not that I don’t trust him it's just that Zuko isn’t ready for that and he’s probably freaking out because now you know and he didn’t want people to know and it’s been like six months but I promise we’ll tell Dad eventually but you can’t tell him-”

Bato placed a gentle hand on Sokka’s shoulder. “Sokka, kid, it’s okay. Take a breath. I’ve been there, you know? It’ll be okay. I’m not going to tell your dad, I’d never do something like that. If you ever need to talk to me, just know I’ve been in your shoes, alright?” 

His interruption did the trick and calmed Sokka down enough that he wasn’t giving himself an anxiety attack. Good, that’s good, that’s the goal. 

Sokka nodded, acknowledging the words. Faster than Bato could blink, the seventeen-year-old was hugging him tightly before pulling away just as quickly. “Thanks, Bato, that helps a lot. I, um, I need to go talk to Zuko.” In a rush, he was back in the living room, sitting on the couch and taking the scared boy’s hands. Bato smiled to himself before going to Hakoda’s room to find the book he needed. 

Yeah, Sokka would be just fine. 

\--

Even after so many years, Bato's scars still ached sometimes. Not often anymore, but occasionally he would reach too far or the rain would fall too long and he would wince every time he moved a finger and pulled at the taut skin. 

He was always careful to hide it. Toph had enough on her plate, he didn't want her to think she needed to worry about him as well. So he hid the catches of his breath and the way his eyes would close tight if he bent his elbow at the wrong time. It wasn't that hard to hide physical reactions from her, anyway. 

It was much harder to hide the signs from Hakoda. At first, Bato thought his ability to always know when something was wrong came with being a paramedic, but after a while, he came to realize that Hakoda just pays close attention to those he cares for.

He couldn't clench his jaw and squeeze his fist until the pain receded anymore. If he did that, Hakoda would look at him with the most worried eyes and kiss the corner of his mouth before mumbling, "Talk to me," like he was born with all the secrets to getting Bato to open up. 

He tried to say no to Hakoda. He tried to keep Hakoda from fretting over his arm. It had been so fucking long, he really didn't need a massage and lotioning to feel better. Really. 

Maybe Hakoda's need to help was nice sometimes. 

It just- it just annoyed Bato a little when his arm seized up at the dinner table, and Hakoda, sweet, well-meaning Hakoda, asked if he was okay. 

Toph didn't speak to him for the rest of the night. She hated it when he was hurting and he tried to protect her from it. That didn't stop him from doing exactly that, though. 

Even so, he couldn't be mad at Hakoda for caring. He couldn't be mad at the way Hakoda always situated himself so Bato's right side was leaning into him. He couldn't be mad at how Hakoda would take his mottled hand and kiss each finger until all his thoughts of self-pity faded into the background. He couldn't be mad at how Hakoda would silently elect himself to help Bato put his lotion on every time he stayed over. 

It really was hard to be annoyed at Hakoda for caring too much. His endless caring nature was one of the reasons Bato had fallen for him, after all. 

Still, it was all too easy to become snappish and closed off when his husband would try to help him. It was all too easy to draw back and pretend he was fine instead of admitting a vulnerability. 

Before he met Hakoda, all of his interactions with other men were, in retrospect, quite toxic. His father had never even implied that he gave a single shit about him, his high school boyfriend refused to so much as cuddle because cuddling was “girly,” his battalion was more focused on fighting and flexing than they were on feelings, the men he met in bars had made it clear it was just a one night no strings kind of thing. No one had cared enough to hold him and tell him his pain was temporary. No one had bothered to kiss his wounds and remind him he was beautiful and that his scars didn’t make him any less strong. No one had shown that he mattered until Hakoda. 

It was just hard to get used to. 

So he practiced. He let Hakoda rub lotion into his arm, he let Hakoda cast worried glances his way whenever he main a pained expression, he let Hakoda ask questions about the wound he had tried so hard to avoid speaking about for so long. 

Being with Hakoda was healing. It was nice. It wasn't always easy, but it was by far the easiest thing he'd had in forever.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you couldn’t tell, Bato played Waluigi and Sokka mains Samus. Why does Sokka main Samus? Because Zuko mains Ripley and there’s nothing more romantic than picking a character from the same game to beat your boyfriend in SSBB with, next question.  
> I hope you liked the fic, please comment and tell me what you thought, good or bad!  
> If you haven’t already, feel free to come join the Bakoda Discord server my friend and I started!  
> As always, you can find me on tumblr at dyoxyys!


End file.
